Visiting children playing the Traffic Snake Game all around Europe

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On the 22th of April, I visited the Earth Day in the city of Ostrava. A lot of Ostrava primary schools attended this event, where they could try various activities related to environmental and global education. The team from CDV prepared a stand dedicated to the Traffic Snake Game, where teachers got information about the TSG and how their school can join this game. Pupils tried to go through our snake slalom with a scarf over their eyes. They tried as well to paint correctly traffic signs. Children really liked these activities – the stand was crowded with them throughout the event! They got small rewards for correct fulfillment of these activities – traffic memory game, coloring book or a bicycle bell.

Another Earth Day celebration took place in the city of Brno on the 25th of April. About 5 500 children and parents attended this event, where various activities and initiatives in the field of sustainable life was presented. CDV prepared a TSG stand with similar activities like in Ostrava. In addition, children and parents could learn more about first aid.

Hi all, I recently was in France again. Did you know that “vélo” is French word for “bicycle”? That’s good to know, because the city of Nantes just hosted “Velo-city 2015”. That was a 4-day event and regarded as a very important meeting to talk about bicycles and promoting cycling. More than thousand people from all over the world were there. Naturally, I met a lot of French people, but I also met people from Japan, Brazil, Canada, Taiwan… Maybe I will visit them one day. Have you ever been in those countries? I haven’t…

But I feel very lucky travelling in Europe. I especially like visiting schools that play my game. But this trip in Nantes was nice as well. I had several pictures taken, just see. The first one shows you our promotion stand that people visited. This way more cities and schools become aware that we have a great game and campaign to offer.

In the second one you see me trying out Nantes’ bicycle sharing system “Bicloo”. I wanted to be sure the basket was comfortable enough. You see, there was a big cycling parade. How big? BIG! More than 7.000 people on bikes joined for a great trip through Nantes. And I was there as well. You see a picture of the crowd I was with. Well, part of it, because they did not all fit in the photo. And some of the bikes were pretty weird… I also met a bunny on a bike that joined the parade! Isn’t that crazy? But that was not the only amazing thing I have seen.

The last day, I even met an elephant that was 12 meters high and 8 meters wide. As big as a house! And there were people on top of it making a walk in the park. Don’t believe me? Just look at the last picture. No, it was not a real elephant, it was made out of wood and steel. But still: quite impressive! You see, if you walk and bike, you come across some wonderful things. Let me know what you meet along the road!

I’m again in lovely Slovenia. This time I was hosted by primary school Ivan Cankar from Ljutomer. This school is a forerunner working on the promotion of active mobility. The Municipality of Ljutomer reconstructed roads and pathways that leads to this school. Now the road to the school is completely closed for cars. They are reaching the level of 94% sustainable trips. By playing the TSG, they want to achieve the maximum of 100% sustainable trips!

First the pupils introduced me to how they carry out a theoretical online cycling exam . Only when they pass the test, they can perform the practical examination.

All classes are involved in Traffic Snake Game. Both junior and senior pupils played the game and I found out that all loved the game, even the older pupils.

We posed in front of the banner. That day all classes achieved their goal! Well done!

Wow, look at me where I am. Ready for the traffic parcours. Let’s see how good the children can bike and if they are already capable to bike alone on the road.

Here I was resting in shopping cart while my cyclist manoeuvred between the bollards. She did it very well!

The youngest pupils showed me the small traffic parcours with the many traffic signs made by the pupils themselves.

The coordinator of TSG in the school is Marjeta Kuhar. She is the driving force for the campaign and extremly enthusiastic about sustainable mobility. Thanks to her the game is so successful in the school.

Find out on the school page whether the school managed to achieve 100% sustainable trips!

Last month I visited three amazing cities. In each city a regional training workshop for the national campaign organisers took place. Each city was so special. In each city I met the campaign organisers, and we suggested things to improve the campaign, like the new smartboard application. The highlights:

InNantes (France) the first regional workshops took place. Did you know that Nantes’ most common nickname is the Venice of the West? Aname referring to its position on the river delta of the Loire, the Erdre and the Sèvre.

In Rome (Italy) we visited the Colosseum. The Colosseum was the sports stadium in the ancient Rome, it was the site of most of the gladiatorial contests. In these contests men fought other men or wild animals (no, not snakes,you silly!). To the Romans, seeing animals killed in the Colosseum was entertaining. Plus, admission was free and anyone could attend. The Colosseum was built of concrete and stone and is still fairly intact even today.

In Brno (Czech Republic) we went to the old town hall. It has a legendary Gothic portal with a crooked turret. The rumour has it that the stone master was not paid for the portal of the Old Town Hall and therefore he intentionally crooked the central turret in the portal. The passage is “inhabited” by the famous crocodil , beloved symbol of the city of Brno. What great route to walk to school this is! In Brno we celebrated Leea’s Birthday, she is the national organiser of TSG In Romania. Congratulations!

I’m back in Belgium these weeks and more precisely in Wallonia. That is the predominantly French-speaking southern region of Belgium. My host this time is Empreintes asbl, some cool guys who are coordinating the Traffic Snake Game in Wallonia!

I had so much fun, I did a lot of fun things together with all the kids:

We’ve played a game to learn all about the mobility issue (I won, obviously).

We’ve made an animation to identify the path and the mode of transport use by the kids to go to school. It was really cool to see the result at the end. Now the children can walk or cycle together to school or convince their parents to carpool.

We also produced a model of the school area and went out to identify the infrastructures in the school area. That was a lot of fun, did you already try to stand with all the children of your class in one bus stop? I was squeezzzed.

And what’s really interesting: at the end of this program, the kids involved in this project will meet parents and locals authorities to identify actions to improve safety and comfort on the road to school. How cool is that? I hope that their parents will be convinced as well, to come by bike or on foot to school!

I will miss you guys, you kids were awesome. But also a little bit crazy. Check this out:

Something very peculiar happened in the Romanian Municipality of Bistriţa! A giant snake took over the City Centre, celebrating the international „Car Free Day” on the 22nd of September! He looks just like me, that must be my big brother Oscar! Can you see those surprised looks from the citizens?

The Mascot of OSCAR, the Romanian Traffic Snake, was developed by Bistriţa Municipality together with Radu HANGAN and Paul TÂRZIU, both teachers at „Corneliu BABA” Arts High School from Bistriţa, a Traffic Snake playing school.

During 16-19 September 2014, Bistriţa Municipality distributed 200 plastic bags within the 7 schools playing the Traffic Snake Game, running a small collecting campaign called “One empty plastic bottle for the Traffic Snake!”. OSCAR, the Romanian Snake, was designed out of 150 bags full of PETs, having a length of over 25m. It was created and built by 50 high school students, this action being as stated by the two coordinating teachers, the first integrative workshop for the 9th grade freshmen. At the end of the Traffic Snake Game Campaign, the plastic bottles were taken to a local recycling centre.

Oh I’m so happy that the Romanian children helped my giant brother grow so big! Congratulations!
By the way, did you know that 7554 pupils in 56 Romanian schools from 13 different cities played the Traffic Snake Game? They sure are doing a good job!

Hi there my dear traffic snakers! After a long holiday with the amazing winning school in the Czech Republic (photos of this amazing adventure will follow later!), I’m in Bulgaria now– see if you can spot it on the world map. Go on, have a go.

I visited a lot of schools in Bulgaria and I met many children who walked and cycled a lot to school. Today I visited a great school in Varna were more than 200 pupils are playing my game, so great! In the whole country pupils are walking and cycling a lot, from 66% car trips to school in the beginning, they dropped to 16% after the game. I’m so proud of the Bulgarian children.

Especially for my visit the pupils organized a Dance Tournament. Wooow, these girls can dance! I also tried to move on the music, but I wasn’t as good as them, it was really a great show!